Logo_SAF
This Month in Human Rights
and Social Justice
The upcoming events and dates below are opportunities for all of us to recognize and remember those who speak out and take action to alleviate discrimination, promote tolerance, and achieve justice for victims of
social injustice. 

 

August News and Events    

 
Salem Award Nominations are open!   

The Salem Award Foundation welcomes nominations from the public at large. We encourage you to submit nominations of people or organizations that are in keeping with our mission:

to keep alive the lessons of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and to make known and honor the heroic work of those who speak out and take action to alleviate discrimination, promote tolerance, and achieve justice for contemporary victims of social injustice.

The deadline for nominations is September 15. The application and more information can be found on our website.  

 



Salem Joins the Accessible Icon Project 

Forward-thinking communities and institutions are implementing the new International Symbol of Access (often called "the Wheelchair Symbol"). Salem is at the forefront of the movement to use the revised symbol that depicts people with disabilities as active and engaged members of their community.

   This month, the City repainted the handicapped parking spaces in the Sewall Street parking lot, including those of the Salem Housing Authority, with the new icon. Last Fall, Salem was one of the first municipalities to accept the new icon.

   Salem Disabilities Commission and Public Services team continue to look for opportunities to replace the older icon with this new, more appropriate symbol throughout the city.

    Learn more about the Accessible Icon Project.  
 

     

Dates to Remember
August 19  George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, George Jacobs, John Proctor and
John Willard
Anniversary

Five victims in the Salem Witch Trials were hanged on this date: Rev. George S. Burroughs, Martha Carrier, George Jacobs, John Proctor and John Willard.

   Officials in attendance included Judges John Hathorne, Jonathan Corwin, and Bartholomew Gedney, and Ministers Nicholas Noyes, John Hale and Cotton Mather.  

   The onlookers sensed that injustice may have been done, as George Burroughs recited The Lord's Prayer perfectly as he stood on Gallows Hill (something a witch was not able to do). Burroughs and his fellow victims also prayed that theirs was the last innocent blood shed.    

    

A free, public question-and-answer forum will be offered at the Salem Witch Trials Memorial at noon on August 19, to mark the anniversary. This is sponsored by The Witch House. 

 

12:00 pm at the Salem Witch Trials Memorial   
Liberty Street, Salem


August 21-24 Salem Community Read

The benefits of Community Read programs are manifold--not just promoting literacy and communication, but also family and community bonding.

   Salem Partnership has organized a community read of Hannah Tinti's The Good Thief in conjunction with Community Advisory Board for the Salem Public Schools. As described by the author, The Good Thief  "Is about redemption and second chances. Throughout the novel, different characters try to right past wrongs."  

   Several free public events are planned with Ms Tinti at various Salem venues. All ages are invited to participate.  Learn more

 


UN_HR_logo August 30  International Day of the Victims
                   of Enforced Disappearances
Some men arrive. They force their way into a family's home, rich or poor, in a city or village--anywhere. Giving no reasons, producing no arrest warrant, and frequently without saying on whose authority they act, they drag off one or more members of the household towards a car, using violence if necessary.  
   This is often the first act in the drama of an enforced or involuntary disappearance, a particularly heinous violation of human rights and an international crime. Learn more.


  

We thank the City of Salem for its ongoing financial support to the Salem Award Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization. However, the majority of our funding comes through individual donations.

To support the Salem Award Foundation with a donation, please visit  www.salemaward.org.  

 

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